hi everyone, my name is Seb and welcome back to Pra Caramba, a podcast I created to help you improve your Brazilian accent, one episode at the time.

The other day, I was listening to a podcast and something came up that really summed up how I think about how to hone language skills: master up to 80% and then move forward. When I recommend that you stick to an episode, repeat the exercise twice a day for a week before moving to the next episode, I really believe that by the end of the week each week, you’ll have reached that 80%: not only 80% of mastering the exact pronunciation of that episode’s exercise, but more importantly 80% of your own reachable potential that week in regards with your growing level. And that’s why,  week after a week, you’ll progress faster and better than if  you’d get hung up on an episode. Moving to a new episode after a week extends the coverage of your skill and plainly compounds what’s already been covered. At some point, you’ll even feel that you’ve reached the 80% of what this method can bring you and I expect you to move on. 

anyhow, today’s exercise. if this is your first time listening, my method is very simple: i’ll say a sentence, give you some time to repeat out loud, then we’ll do that three times for each of the sentences. All the sentences are in the episode description so that you can read along. If you’re having trouble with a sentence, hit pause and repeat it as slowly as possible until you get closer, then continue the exercise. As per use, don’t forget to focus on perfecting, not on trying to be perfect. 

1. Cada dia é uma nova chance para recomeçar do zero.
2. Acredite nos seus sonhos, pois eles guiam o seu caminho.
3. A amizade verdadeira é um tesouro que a gente cuida sempre.
4. O tempo passa rápido, por isso aproveite cada instante.
5. Nunca subestime o poder de uma palavra bem dita.
6. A natureza é sábia e nos ensina com sua beleza.
7. O amor é a força mais poderosa que existe no mundo.
8. Cada passo que damos é uma construção do nosso destino.
9. Os pequenos gestos do dia a dia fazem a diferença.
10. O saber é a chave que abre todas as portas.
11. A coragem de recomeçar faz de você uma pessoa especial.
12. O sorriso é o reflexo do nosso coração mais feliz.

Alright, that’s it for today. As always, I recommend sticking to at least one episode per week, repeating it twice a day, back to back, everyday of the week.  Let me know in the comments about your progress and my method works for you. Thank you so much for listening, see you next time!

hi everyone, my name is Seb and welcome back to Pra Caramba, a podcast I created to help you improve your Brazilian accent, one episode at the time.

When I share my thoughts and tips on refining your Brazilian accent, I really mean it as a way to improve your sotaque. If you go live in Brasil and make it your life’s mission to have a perfectly native accent, there’s probably a way to make it happen, but realistically, you’ll always have an accent and it’s far from being a bad thing nor is it stopping you from having a great Brazilian accent. To me, accents are a way to tell people things about yourself without having to say it out loud. In our case, the bits of your Brazilian sotaque will be telling them there’s a bit of culture shared between you and them. And your natural accent will be a world you invite them to discover. To me, this is what the goal is: giving and gaining access to doors to other worlds, something even the most sophisticated translation apps will never be able to really provide.

if this is your first time listening, my method is very simple: i’ll say a sentence, give you some time to repeat out loud, then we’ll do that three times for each of the sentences. All the sentences are in the episode description so that you can read along. If you’re having trouble with a sentence, hit pause and repeat it as slowly as possible until you get closer, then continue the exercise. As per use, don’t forget to focus on perfecting, not on trying to be perfect. 

LET’S GO.

1. É tanta qualidade que exigem para dar emprego
2. Não conheço um patrão com condições de ser empregado
3. Quando você vai deixando de gostar da pessoa, ela vai morrendo dentro de você.
4. Se a aparência explicasse a essência, o sabor não seria necessário.
5. Mas falta de educação não tá em pobre
6. De todas as coisas que eu tive, as que mais me valeram
7. são as coisas que não se pode tocar.
8. São as coisas que não fazem parte do mundo da matéria.
9. Agora levanta essa cabeça, olha pra frente e teima
10. Amanhã pode acontecer tudo… inclusive nada.
11. Nada melhor que um dia atrás do outro… e uma noite no meio.
12. O sorriso de uma criança ilumina qualquer ambiente.

Alright, that’s it for today. As always, I recommend sticking to at least one episode per week, repeating it twice a day, back to back, everyday of the week.  Let me know in the comments what you think of my philosophical rants. Thank you so much for listening, see you next time!

hi everyone, my name is Seb and welcome back to Pra Caramba, a podcast I created to help you improve your Brazilian accent, one episode at the time.

If like me, portuguese isn’t the first latin language you’re learning, you know how much of a double-edged sword it is. More than any other aspect of this, the trickiest for me when talking portuguese, especially when I first started learning, was to make sure my brain wasn’t going down the spanish road. I was really fearful before even starting learning portuguese because I had no idea how I would separate the two. one of my main preoccupations ended up being the solution: the accent. I had worked so hard to perfect my Argentine accent in spanish and I really liked the Brazilian accent, which I was hoping to master. So, for the first month, I was speaking really slow and piece-mealing it to make sure I was intonating and pronunciating in the most Brazilian way that I could and turns out it was a great way to blaze a new dedicated path in my brain for portuguese. It was also really hard. Psychologically, going from being fluent with a good accent in Spanish to being super robotic and sounding unnatural in a language that’s almost the same as spanish on paper really tested my resolve. But in less than a month, I found my brain drifting less and less towards spanish. So another facet of the method I’m sharing with you in the podcast is that it ultimately gives you back brainpower when you end up talking in portuguese. Not only do you get back the energy it’d otherwise take to think about pronunciation but it also dug a deeper path for portuguese in your brain, a dedicated mental mode, one that prevents you from thinking in another language, because the accent has been tightly wound to the language in this mode.

if this is your first time listening, my method is very simple: i’ll say a sentence, give you some time to repeat out loud, then we’ll do that three times for each of the sentences. All the sentences are in the episode description so that you can read along. If you’re having trouble with a sentence, hit pause and repeat it as slowly as possible until you get closer, then continue the exercise. As per use, don’t forget to focus on perfecting, not on trying to be perfect. 

LET’S GO.

1. Cada passo é um aprendizado incrível.
2. Quem espera sempre alcança.
3. Quem não arrisca, não petisca.
4. Mais vale tarde do que nunca.
5. Quem canta, seus males espanta.
6. Eu sou o chefe, aqui quem manda sou eu.
7. Quem semeia vento, colhe tempestade.
8. É uma grande aventura que vale a pena.
9. Eu sempre sigo em frente, não importa o que aconteça.
10. O amor verdadeiro transforma a nossa vida.
11. O tempo é o nosso bem mais precioso e deve ser valorizado.
12. É preciso levar em conta a pobre e triste condição do homem.

That’s it for today.  As always, I recommend sticking to at least one episode per week, repeating it twice a day, back to back, everyday of the week.  Let me know in the comments if you’ve encountered this problem with speaking more than one latin language and any tips that helped you. Thank you so much for listening, see you next time!

hi everyone, my name is Seb and welcome back to Pra Caramba, a podcast I created to help you improve your Brazilian accent, one episode at the time.

Learning to speak a new language is a lot to do at once. I’ll never forget how distracting it was to sound nothing like what I was trying to it sound like, when I was first speaking a new language in the past. This method that I’ve been sharing with you has helped me immensely because it detaches a whole part of the language to be practiced on its own, so that you don’t have to dedicate as much energy on it later when you find yourself in a conversation. I think of it as the wax on, wax off from Karate Kid. As such, every time you start a new episode for the week, in the beginning, it might sound awkward, but keep going and as you progress through the week, you’ll see how fast you get better. This is something that really compounds over time. Finally, last week, a listener reached out to share a tip: every week, he uses the previous week’s episode to warm himself up before exercising with the current week’s episode.

if this is your first time listening, my method is very simple:i’ll say a sentence, give you some time to repeat out loud, then we’ll do that three times for each of the sentences. All the sentences are in the episode description so that you can read along. If you’re having trouble with a sentence, hit pause and repeat it as slowly as possible until you get closer, then continue the exercise. As per use, don’t forget to focus on perfecting, not on trying to be perfect. LET’S GO.

1. É incrível como as coisas acontecem.
2. É possível mudar a rota a qualquer momento.
3. É um sonho incrível estar aqui com você.
4. Tudo é possível quando a gente acredita.
5. O sentimento de amor é algo incrível.
6. É possível encontrar beleza nas coisas simples.
7. É uma viagem incrível pelo Brasil.
8. É impossível não se emocionar com tanta beleza.
9. A paisagem ao redor é simplesmente incrível.
10. É possível criar laços duradouros com o tempo.
11. O amor é algo tão incrível que muda a gente.
12. É impossível prever cada detalhe dessa aventura.

That’s it for today.  As always, I recommend sticking to at least one episode per week, repeating it twice a day, back to back, everyday of the week.  Let me know in the comments if you try the listener’s warm up tip and if it works for you. Thank you so much for listening, see you next time!

hi everyone, my name is Seb and welcome back to Pra Caramba, a podcast I created to help you improve your Brazilian accent, one episode at the time.

if this is your first time listening, my method is very simple: i’ll say a sentence, give you some time to repeat out loud, then we’ll do that three times for each of the sentences. All the sentences are in the episode description so that you can read along. If you’re having trouble with a sentence, hit pause and repeat it as slowly as possible until you get closer, then continue the exercise.

As per use, don’t forget to focus on perfecting, not on trying to be perfect.

1. A primeira vez que fui ao Rio, me apaixonei.
2. No segundo dia, a gente fez um passeio de barco.
3. No terceiro dia, visitamos o Cristo Redentor.
4. Quarto dia, fomos ao Jardim Botânico caminhar.
5. No quinto dia, comemos uma feijoada deliciosa.
6. No sexto dia, passeamos pelo centro histórico.
7. Sétimo dia, a gente foi a uma festa de samba.
8. No oitavo dia, tiramos fotos na Lapa.
9. No nono dia, descansamos na praia de Ipanema.
10. Décimo dia, fomos ao samba no pé do morro.
11. No décimo primeiro dia, conhecemos a feira de domingo.
12. No décimo segundo dia, assistimos ao pôr do sol no arpoador.

Recently, I was chatting with someone and he was telling me about a new trick he has heard of to better understand how any accent works. Essentially, the strategy was to listen to someone that natively speaks your target language speaking your language. In our case, it would be to listen to a brazilian speaking in english. This way, whenever you see something that’s accented in a way that’s not normally accented it’s a hint of how these sounds in your language would be spoken in their language. I thought it was a very cool idea. That’s it for today.  As always, I recommend sticking to at least one episode per week, repeating it twice a day, back to back, everyday of the week.  Let me know in the comments if you try it and what you think of it. Thank you so much for listening, see you next time!

hi everyone, my name is Seb and welcome back to Pra Caramba, a podcast I created to help you improve your Brazilian accent, one episode at the time.

In the last episode, I was talking about using consistent sources. I’ve heard and read a lot of people talking about series, music and movies, but what personally helped me the most are podcasts. Specifically, podcast that are around 30 minutes and featuring the same hosts telling each other anecdotes. Not only does this help you internalize what we could call “coherent sound systems” but also, a lot of colloquial expressions and the ways of storytelling in your target language. Again, consistency in practice is what matters most at the beginning: you don’t need to understand what they’re talking about for this technique to start working. What I like to do is to listen twice to each episode of said podcast (or listen to the same 30mn segment twice if the episode is longer), then move on. The way I think about it is like a shaken snowglobe: at the beginning, you can hardly see what’s inside but with time, the dust settles and the form emerges. Gradually, you’ll understand more and more what they’re talking about because you’ll have internalized patterns of sounds and meaning.

Alright, now for this episode’s exercise, if this is your first time listening, the method is straight forward i’ll say the sentences, give you some time to repeat out loud, then we’ll do that three times for each of the sentences. All the sentences are in the episode description so that you can read along. If you’re having trouble with a sentence, hit pause and repeat it as slowly as possible until you get closer, then continue the exercise. Focus on perfecting, not on trying to be perfect. LET’S GO.

1. A maçã e a romã estão na saladeira.
2. Ótima pergunta, nunca tinha pensado nisso.
3. Não é possível que só eu seja assim.
4. Rio de Janeiro, a cidade em que não se vê o mar.
5. A praia hoje está lotada, mas o mar está lindo.
6. Hoje o clima está perfeito para um passeio no centro.
7. As ruas do centro são cheias de cultura e arte.
8. O bondinho do pão de açúcar tem uma vista maravilhosa.
9. A gente pode tomar um café num bairro boêmio.
10. Cada esquina no Rio tem uma história para contar.
11. A gente se diverte muito nos bloquinhos de carnaval.
12. A música daqui tem um ritmo que só o carioca sabe dançar.

That’s it for this episode. As always, I recommend sticking to at least one episode per week, repeating it twice a day, back to back, everyday of the week.  Let me know in the comments what your favorite brazilian podcasts are! Thanks, and see you for the next episode!

hi everyone, my name is Seb and welcome back to Pra Caramba, a podcast I created to help you improve your Brazilian accent, one episode at the time.

When you’re first practicing my technique to improve your accent, an important thing is not only consistency in practice but consistency in the model you base your sotaque on. Communication is a systemic tool, so by choosing as few consistent sources as possible, you slowly start to internalize A system and then, with time, you can move forward and develop it more independently for yourself. Think of it as how you basically learned talking your mother tongue from your parents and then, with time, the way you spoke evolved, influenced by friends, family, movies, etc. We’ll talk a bit more about this in the next episode.  

Now for this episode’s exercise, if this is your first time listening, the method is straight forward i’ll say a sentence, give you some time to repeat out loud, repeat them and so on and so forth. Try your best at imitating the sounds in an exaggerated way, this is how you slowly get closer. Focus on perfecting, not on trying to be perfect.

1. A gente pode sair mais cedo e evitar o trânsito.
2. Eu gosto de caminhar no parque no fim da tarde.
3. Eu quero aprender a tocar violão devagar e com paciência.
4. O céu aqui à noite é cheio de estrelas.
5. Eu sempre acordo feliz quando o dia começa ensolarado.
6. No final, tudo vai dar certo, é só ter fé.
7. Cara, isso foi muito massa, gostei demais.
8. Pô, me chama quando você estiver por aqui.
9. Tá tudo certo, pode deixar que eu cuido disso.
10. A gente se fala amanhã sem falta.
11. Vamos marcar um cinema, o que você acha?
12. Meu, tô na correria, mas dou um jeito.
13. Esse lugar aqui é perfeito pra gente relaxar.
14. Pode crer, vou seguir suas dicas com certeza.

That’s it for today. Again, I recommend sticking to at least one episode per week, repeating it twice a day, back to back, everyday of the week. Thanks, and see you for the next episode!

hi everyone, my name is Seb and welcome back to Pra Caramba, a podcast I created to help you improve your Brazilian accent, one episode at the time.

In Pra Caramba, as the focus is to improve your accent in a second language, it’s likely that you’ll encounter new words that you don’t understand but I invite you to disregard that. The core of the method is really to master the sounds both in being able to imagine what Brazilian Portuguese sounds like and to make the sounds on command.

if this is your first time listening, the method is straight forward i’ll say a sentence for the first time, give you some time to repeat out loud, repeat it, leave you time to repeat it and then move on to the next sentence. The most important part is to focus on imitating the sounds in an exaggerated way.. this works best if you repeat the exercise twice in a row, at least once a day. Don’t hesitate to hit pause and say it the sentences word by word until it starts to sound right. Focus on perfecting, not on trying to be perfect.

1. Meu, isso aí é muito doido
2. Fica tranquilo, depois a gente se fala
3. Nossa, que rolê da hora
4. Nem acredito que deu certo
5. Confia no que você tá fazendo
6. Eu gosto de acordar cedo e tomar um café bem quente
7. A vida em São Paulo é cheia de surpresas todos os dias
8. Faz tempo que eu não vejo meus amigos do colégio
9. Vamos devagar, cada passo no seu tempo
10. O importante é a gente estar junto e se apoiar sempre
11. Cada dia é uma nova oportunidade de aprender

again, I recommend sticking to at least one episode per week, repeating it twice a day, back to back, everyday of the week. Let me know in the comments if there’s a sentence from a song that you think sounds cool and would like to see included in the next lesson!. Thanks, and see you for the next episode!

— Seb

hi everyone, my name is Seb and welcome back to Pra Caramba, a podcast I created to help you improve your Brazilian accent, one episode at the time.

You could fluently speak any second language and still sound far from native. Why is that? Obviously, everyone has a different accent, even from native speaker to native speaker but what makes an accent recognizable? I would say there’s an informal collection of characteristics that constitutes what I like to call the musicality of any language variant and Brazilian portuguese is not exempt from this, far from it. 

the method I’ve created for myself and now sharing with you has one goal and one goal only: improve your accent. To do this, i say a sentence for the first time, give you some time to repeat out loud, then i repeat it, leave you time to repeat it and then move to the next sentence. The most important part is to focus on imitating the sounds, as exaggerated as you can. this works best if you repeat the exercise twice in a row, at least once a day.

What you’ll see over time is that a muscle memory will develop in your mouth, leaving you with increasingly more brain power to focus on what you want to say as pronunciation, rhythm and intonation will all have just become a second nature. when doing the exercise, don’t hesitate to hit pause and say it the sentences word by word until it starts to sound right.

focus on perfecting, not on trying to be perfect.

here are the sentences:

1. A praia hoje está linda.
2. Hoje eu quero só relaxar e ouvir um pouco de música.
3. Volta no centro e depois tomar um sorvete.
4. Meu primo chegou de viagem.
5. Quando anoitece, a gente sente a brisa suave vindo do mar.
6. A festa no sábado vai ser incrível.
7. Com muita música e gente animada.
8. A festa no sábado vai ser incrível, com muita música e gente animada.
9. A gente se encontra depois do trabalho pra tomar um chopinho.
10. No domingo, a gente vai passear no Jardim Botânico e tirar umas fotos.
11. Meu amigo vai me ensinar a tocar um samba no violão.
12. Quando chove, eu adoro ficar em casa, lendo um livro e ouvindo o barulho da chuva.

That’s it for today. I recommend sticking to at least one episode per week, repeating it twice a day, back to back.. Let me know in the comments if there’s a sentence from a movie that you find cool and would like to see included in the next lesson!. Thanks, and see you for the next episode!

— Seb

hi everyone, my name is Seb and welcome to Pra Caramba’s first episode.

the reason for being of this podcast is to help you improve your Brazilian sotaque (that is to say your accent) and your pronunciation, one episode at the time.

before we start, this method that’ll be used in the podcast is one I’ve developed myself to improve on my accent and the way it works is simple: you simply have to practices repeating the same sentences out loud everyday for at least a week, trying to imitate the rhythm and the music of the word as much as possible.

the goal here isn’t to teach you phrases or words, per se, but rather to help you get over the hurdles of pronounciation and accentuation by internalizing the rhythm and the sounds and will naturally improve your accent.

you should know that there are various sotaques across Brazil, and obviously, this will be my own. in my opinion, there’s no right accent, it’s more helpful to have a one that is more pinpointed to a place, so that the people you are talking to are focused on understanding you, rather than on piecing together the patchwork of different pronunciations within the same sentence. language is a tool meant to facilitate understanding. 

here are the sentences:

1. E aí, beleza?
2. Tô de boa.
3. Partiu praia amanhã?
4. Pão de queijo e café.
5. Isso não faz sentido.
6. Melhor chegar cedo.
7. Olha aquilo, que estranho.
8. Já falei com ele hoje.
9. Quero um suco de limão.
10. Filho, venha aqui.
11. Tem muita gente na rua.
12. Deixa disso, cara.
13. Tá chovendo pra caramba.
14. Vou pegar um ônibus.

that’s it for today. as i mentioned, this will work best if you immediately repeat the exercise for a second time and if you do it once a day. in about a week’s time, i’ll launch another episode so you can keep practicing new sentences. let me know in the comments what you think about the episode, thanks and see you next week!

— Seb